Marta Kos Cancels Belgrade Visit Over Mladic Praise
The EU's commissioner for enlargement canceled a visit to Serbia planned for two days after Ratko Mladic's funeral, saying glorification of the convicted war criminal threatens the country's EU path.
EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos announced on September 4 that she is canceling a visit to Serbia planned for next week, coming just two days after Ratko Mladic’s funeral. In a post on X, Kos pointed to the wave of glorification that has surrounded the convicted war criminal’s death and the arrival of his remains in Belgrade. The trip was to include her participation in the BELTALKS international economic forum.
Mladic was sentenced by the Hague Tribunal to life in prison for genocide in the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which more than 8,000 men and boys were killed, as well as for the siege of Sarajevo between 1992 and 1995 and other war crimes, including running detention camps. He died on August 27 at age 84 in a hospital in The Hague, where he had been held at the United Nations detention unit. His body arrived in Belgrade on September 3 aboard a government plane, the coffin wrapped in a Serbian flag and carried by soldiers. His son, Darko Mladic, announced a military commemoration for Saturday and a funeral at a Belgrade cemetery for Monday, September 7.
What Kos said from Brussels
Kos framed her message as a direct link between the funeral and Serbia’s path toward the European Union.
“Ratko Mladic was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The return of his remains to Belgrade reminds Europe of the darkest pages of our recent history. The glorification surrounding his death is incompatible with the values on which the European path is built. That path demands confronting the past, genuine reconciliation and respect for the victims of war crimes. The values on which our shared future rests are not up for negotiation,” Kos wrote.
She added that she is “at this point” not proceeding with the visit. This is not the first time the commissioner has publicly tied the Mladic case to Serbia’s EU accession. Days earlier, at the Bled Strategic Forum, she warned that how Serbia handles the funeral would be a “very important test” of the country’s European path. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic responded to that assessment in late August, commenting on her separate remark about “Trojan horses” in the accession process by saying that Brussels “is doing its job and protecting itself.”
Condemnation from Strasbourg and several capitals
That same morning, at 9:50 am, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Michael O’Flaherty, weighed in, saying the glorification amounts to a criminal offense under the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is not protected under the European Convention on Human Rights.
“I am appalled by the public glorification of Ratko Mladic, a deceased war criminal convicted of genocide in Srebrenica and crimes against humanity, including statements made by officials in Republika Srpska and Serbia,” O’Flaherty said in a statement, calling on authorities to counter the glorification of convicted war criminals and to fulfill their obligations toward victims.
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot also reacted, calling the announced state and military honors a disgrace to the victims.
“He embodies some of the worst atrocities of our European history, most notably the genocide in Srebrenica. It is shameful and disrespectful to the victims and their families that such honors are being reserved for his funeral,” Prévot said, adding that he had conveyed this position “to my Serbian counterpart in charge of European affairs.”
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic warned that granting the highest honors to a convicted war criminal would be, in his words, “the equivalent of slamming the European Union’s door in your own face.” Irish Minister for European Affairs and Defence Thomas Byrne took a similar line, telling reporters on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting in Dublin that a state funeral would be unacceptable, and that it would not be acceptable for senior officials to pay tribute to Mladic even if the event does not formally amount to a state funeral.
A test for Serbia’s European path
According to figures cited by Brussels, Serbia’s foreign and security policy alignment with the European Union stands at 60 percent, the lowest among all candidate countries. The opening of the so-called Cluster 3, which would advance negotiations on competitiveness and growth, had already stalled this summer over disputed judicial reforms, and diplomatic sources close to the talks say the added friction over the funeral further reduces the chance that any member state will now push to open that chapter. A Czech member of the European Parliament announced, alongside the canceled visit, that he would seek a suspension of Serbia’s accession process over the glorification of Mladic.
Vucic has not directly addressed the cancellation of Kos’s visit in his public comments so far, but regarding the planned funeral he said he has previously scheduled meetings on Monday and expects the proceedings to pass without incident.
“I want everything to go with dignity,” Vucic said.
Whether the September 7 funeral remains a purely internal matter or becomes, as Kos signaled at Bled, a yardstick by which member states judge Serbia’s readiness for membership will become clearer only in the days after the funeral, once Brussels has to decide whether the canceled visit stays an isolated gesture or turns out to be the first in a series of steps.
